This document provides an overview of homeopathy, including its history starting in the late 1700s, key concepts like "like cures like" and highly diluted doses, common misconceptions, and lack of scientific evidence that it is effective. It notes homeopathy involves treating patients with substances that are diluted to such an extreme degree that there are likely no active molecules remaining. The document concludes that homeopathy is essentially no different than a placebo.

1. UBC SBM
Homeopathy
www.sbmubc.org

2. UBC SBM
Table of Contents
• Famous Numbers
• Homeopathy
– History
– Dilutions
– Common misconceptions
– Homeopathic vaccines
– Examples
– Ethics
– Interesting facts

3. Famous Numbers
• There are lots of famous numbers:
• Pi, or π, or 3.14 Pi is not:
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4. Famous Numbers
• There’s also Avagadro’s Number:
6 x 1023
That’s the same as a six with 23 zeros!
600 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
That’s a BIG number!
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5. Famous Numbers
Avagadro’s number is really
interesting because that’s how
many molecules of O2 there are
in 22.4 litres
- About 6 milk jugs
Also called a “Mole”
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6. Moles
• A mole of paper would make a stack to moon
and back 80 billion times
• A mole of seconds is about 19 quadrillion
years
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7. Medicine and Homeopathy
• The numbers are important! (more later)
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8. Medicine in 18th Century
• Pre-scientific and
often harmful
– Bloodletting
• The cure often worse
than disease!
• Doing “nothing” appears
like good medicine
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9. History of Homeopathy
• Invented by Samuel Hahnemann in 1796
– Germany
• Was bothered by current explanation for how
cinchona bark cured malaria.
– “Strengthens the stomach”
– In fact contains Quinine
• kills malaria parasite
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10. History of Homeopathy
• Decided to dose himself with cinchona
– Palpitations
– Anxiety
– Trembling
– NO fever (malaria causes very high fevers)
• Concluded first tenant: “like cures like”
– If two diseases with “similar” symptoms affect
patient, the “stronger” disease cures “weaker”
– Only experiment behind “like cures like”
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11. History of Homeopathy
• Second tenant: Potentization
– Serial dilutions and succussions (shakings)
– Believed made remedy more potent
• Not a single molecule remained
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12. History of Homeopathy
• “Provings”
– Healthy subjects given preparation
– EVERY sensation, feeling, mood change, and
physical change over days to months caused by
preparation
• No matter how trivial or vague
• Example: “dreams which are not remembered” or
“tickling sensation on the palm which obliges a person
to scratch”
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13. History of Homeopathy
• Materia Medica
– Textbook of provings
– 1300 recorded
– Half before 19th century
– 65 from Hahnemann
• Randomized controlled trials:
– “provers” not able to distinguish between
homeopathic preparation and placebo
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14. Modern Homeopathy
• Same core tenants
– Homeopathic vaccines
• Opposition to immunizations
– “Nosodes”
• Potentized diseased animal parts
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15. Homeopathic Logic
• Example: A drug that wakes you up?
• Does decaf coffee put you to sleep? ...
• Lets look at dilutions
– More fun with numbers!
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Dilute!

16. Dilutions
• Exactly how dilute does homeopathy go?
• Listed as multiples of “C”.
– C is diluted 100 times.
– 2C is 100 x 100 = 10 000 times diluted.
– Up to 200C ...
• The “most potent” homeopathic dose is a
dilution of 10400! (or a dose of 10-400)
– A mole mole mole mole mole mole mole mole
mole mole mole mole mole mole mole mole mole
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17. Dilutions
0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000001
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18. Dilutions
• Some perspective:
– How much of 12C homeopathic remedy would
you need to get just 1 molecule of caffeine?
– The ENTIRE Atlantic Ocean!!!
– How many molecules are you getting in a pill?
• Zilch. Nada. Zero.
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19. How do Vaccines Work?
• Vaccines can be made several
different ways: weakening the bug,
killing it, using only some of its
proteins, etc
• What all of these methods do is
allow your body to recognize part of
the bug so that you can strengthen
your immune system
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20. Homeopathic Vaccines
• Has no molecule of the bug!
• Your body cannot build an immune response
• Homeopathic vaccines have been shown to
not be effective to stop infection
– Use proper immunizations!
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21. Misconceptions
• Homeopathy is NOT naturopathy.
– But often naturopaths practice homeopathy
• All who trained in BC are taught it
– Homeopathy = lots and lots of dilutions
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22. Examples
• Oscillococcinum
– Very popular as “flu treatment” or “vaccine”
– Duck liver and heart diluted 10400 times
– No evidence to work
• “Neurexan” sleeping pill
– Made from coffee!
– Famously, people try to overdose on it
• They can’t.
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23. Ethics
• It is unethical to knowingly give a patient a
placebo without telling them
– Truth telling
• Homeopathy has been shown consistently to
be no different from placebo.
• Therefore, it is unethical to not inform people
that it is no better than placebo.
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24. Interesting Facts
• James Randi offers a $1 Million prize to
anyone who can prove homeopathy works
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25. Summary
• Homeopathy started in Germany in 1700s, not
thousands of years ago.
• Belief that “like cures like”
– At infinitesimal doses
• No good evidence that it works
• No scientific plausibility that it could work
• Ultimately: Very expensive water
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26. References
• Cullen W. Materia Medica. In: History of Homœopathy: its Origin; its Conflict, Ameke, WE (Eds), Gould &
Son, London 1885. p.103.
• Hahnemann, SC. Organon of Medicine, 5th ed, Dudegeon 1833.
www.homeopathyhome.com/reference/organon/18.html#53 (Accessed on July 15th, 2012).
• Fishbein M. The Rise and Fall of Homeopathy. In: Fads and Quackery in Healing, Fishbein M (Ed), Blue
Ribbon Books, Inc., New York 1932. p.19.
• Brien S, Lewith G, Bryant T. Ultramolecular homeopathy has no observable clinical effects. A randomized,
double-blind, placebo-controlled proving trial of Belladonna 30C. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2003; 56:562.
• Walach H, Köster H, Hennig T, Haag G. The effects of homeopathic belladonna 30CH in healthy volunteers
-- a randomized, double-blind experiment. J Psychosom Res 2001; 50:155.
• Vickers AJ, van Haselen R, Heger M. Can homeopathically prepared mercury cause symptoms in healthy
volunteers? A randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial. J Altern Complement Med 2001; 7:141.
• Vickers A, McCarney R, Fisher P, van Haselen R. Can homeopaths detect homeopathic medicines? A pilot
study for a randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled investigation of the proving hypothesis. Br
Homeopath J 2001; 90:126.
• Dantas F, Fisher P, Walach H, et al. A systematic review of the quality of homeopathic pathogenetic trials
published from 1945 to 1995. Homeopathy 2007; 96:4.
• Ernst, E. “A systematic review of systematic reviews of homeopathy”. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2002 Dec;
54(6):577-82
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